A William S. Burroughs Community

C Items

Part Two of “Not in Maynard & Miles”

by Eric C. Shoaf

In many ways, the magazines and serials are much more difficult to document than books because they were so prevalent at the time. Small press publishing took off in the 1960s, and Burroughs would send something from his “word horde” to nearly any editor who sent a request. In other instances, publishers would simply appropriate a Burroughs contribution from another source and reprint. Such were those heady times.

Looking over the 300+ C items uncovered by M&M, one is staggered by the enormity of the work. Many of them are foreign publications, and others obscure, ephemeral, or just plain rare. It isn’t as if Burroughs was sent a complementary copy of each title by the publishers. No, someone had to uncover many of them and the only way was to save a copy when it was published or note it soon after. From this perspective, M&M did a fabulous job and this relatively short list in no way should be construed as denigrating their efforts.

For whatever reason, none of the 25 items collected here and published before 1974 were included in M&M. In addition, there are a couple of variant printings of titles noted by M&M. Many items listed here contain previously published material, while others have unique contributions. The goal, as always, is to further the understanding and promote scholarship of Burroughs’ writing from over the years.

A final note: the index in M&M cannot be considered completely reliable as there are abundant omissions from the main text. The only way to check for items is to search the listings directly by year.

Not in Maynard & Miles: The C Items

Wildcat Adventures June 1959 (Vol. 1 no. 1), Burroughs contributes “Junkie” attributed to “William Lee” in this men’s magazine. The lengthy excerpt from Junkie runs for many pages and includes lurid illustrations.

Haute Societe No. 2 (Septembre 1960), Burroughs contributes “Le Déjeuner Nu (fragment)” to this French language publication, comprising an excerpt from Naked Lunch. M&M called No. 1 of this title a “one shot publication” as C18 of their work. There were actually three issues before the title folded, the first two with Burroughs contributions.

Akzente #6/62 (December 1962), Burroughs contributes two excerpts from Naked Lunch to this German literary journal.

Bizarre #28 (2nd Trimestre 1963), Burroughs contributes untitled comments on the art of Guy Harloff to this French periodical, text in English.

The Spero Vol. 1 no. 1 (Flint MI: Fenian Head Centre Press 1965), Burroughs contributes “Coldspring News” limited to 500 numbered copies and bound in wraps with two folding inserts. Noted as M&M C124, but there was also a “Contributor’s Edition” of 100 copies with a different wraps design not listed in M&M.

The Realist No. 88 (January-February 1971), Burroughs contributes a lengthy quote in a story about Terry Southern who is trying to persuade the publisher of his book Blue Movie to advertise in the alternative press.

Le Nouveau Planete #21 (Avril-Mai 1971), Burroughs contributes “Radio-Vie: Entretien Avec William Burroughs” from the book of the same name, French text.

Buffalo Cold Spring Precinct 23 Bulletin (Buffalo NY: Intrepid Press 1971), a curious publication edited by Allen DeLoach with “William Lee” listed as Editor-in-Chief. A note on verso of title page reads in part “…actually evolved out of various letters the author [DeLoach] was writing concurrently to William Burroughs, Brion Gysin…” Burroughs’ Dr. Benway character appears in several of the pieces but it is not clear how much input Burroughs had in the final text.

Renaissance No. 8 Supplement ([no date, assumed 1971] San Francisco), Burroughs contributes “O Hungry Self” also contributions from Ginsberg, Leary, Snyder, Norse, Hoffman and others. Apparently an original work. Blurb on rear wrap states “Renaissance incorporates Notes from the Underground” which had apparently folded. Not listed in the Ginsberg Bibliography by Morgan, itself a useful source of comparison for many Burroughs contributions.

Apeiros #2 (Paris: 1972), Burroughs contributes “Electronic Revolution” with Brion Gysin, text in English. An excerpt from the book of the same name.

Iowa Review Spring 1972, Burroughs contributes “The End” and there is also an article about WSB by John Vernon. An excerpt from Naked Lunch.